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In this episode, I have the pleasure of speaking with Tod McDonald. He is the Founder and General Manager for Investigations at Valid8 Financial. With over two decades of experience, Tod has held leadership roles such as CFO, COO, and Principal in various organizations including Global Baristas and Cascade Capital Group. He holds a degree in Business Administration from the University of Washington and is a Certified Public Accountant and a Certified Insolvency & Restructuring Advisor. His expertise spans finance, corporate restructuring, and financial investigations.

In this episode, we delve into a Ponzi scheme case that led to the founding of Valid8, exploring how his team used forensic techniques to trace missing funds. Tod also discusses the evolving landscape of financial crimes, the role of AI in investigations, and best practices for compliance professionals to stay ahead of fraud schemes. 

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In this episode, the guest on the podcast is Girish Mallya with whom we spoke about compliance and the importance of coaching. Girish has over 25 years of experience in banking and finance in various roles. He deeply understands the dynamics and various processes related to Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Compliance in Banking and Money Service Businesses. He has led successful programs, earning three ATD Awards, and holds certifications including CAMS and CAME. With a Law degree and extensive training experience, he has delivered programs for over 4000 professionals. With his vast knowledge and interpersonal skills, he is a great coach. 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mallyagirish/
Financial Crime Digest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/financial-crimes-digest-7054799627702681600/

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In this episode, we dive into the world of compliance and the future of governance risk and compliance (GRC) with Dorian Cougias, co-founder of the Unified Compliance Framework.

As a pioneer researcher, award-winning author, and charismatic speaker, Dorian brings a blend of deep knowledge, innovative thinking, and a dash of humor to the often complex world of compliance.

With a career decorated with groundbreaking achievements – from designing the world's largest compliance database to authoring over twenty patents – Dorian is a luminary in the field.

This episode delves into the impact of AI on compliance, noting that while AI facilitates faster processes, there's a crucial need for governance around AI-driven decisions.

Website: unifiedcompliance.com

Dorian Cougias on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dcougias/

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Guest on the podcast is a passionate compliance specialist who has experience in the first and second line of defense: Ekta Singh. She brings a wealth of knowledge and awareness of ethics, compliance, business management, current industry trends, and technological advancement in the Fintech, regulatory compliance, and RegTech areas. Ekta has a forward-looking approach to managing compliance and operational challenges. She has been in the Financial Industry for more than a decade and in her professional career she adored the role of Financial advisor, supervisor, Sales management, business head, and Risk & Compliance head. Her positive can-do attitude and problem-solving nature bring more to the table and she advocates that there is a thin line between business and good business.

She holds 3 Master's Degrees, ACAMS and ICA certificates. She is also a Subcommittee member of Regtech at the Singapore Fintech Association, Active working group member of ACCESS, AML working group member at Global Digital Finance (GDF), Trainer at RHT academy and Fintelekt focussing on ethics & compliance, fraud management, risk assessment, and AML/CFT.  She also volunteers as a mentor at the iLead program and Stories of Asia (SOA).

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ekta-singh-cams-mba-ica-01bba13/

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For the second time on the podcast, we have guests from the Silent Eight. With us now are Lyndon Reid and Pak Teng Chow. Lyndon is a seasoned professional with a real passion for sales, business development, and helping companies navigate the complex world of legal and compliance. Prior to joining Silent Eight, he made waves as the VP of Sales & Marketing at Uncharted, where he dove headfirst into the world of digital distribution technology for the insurance sector. He's also made his mark at big players like Manulife and Allianz Partners, leading alternative and affinity distribution efforts across the Asia Pacific. But let's not forget his earlier years, where he served as a Barrister at the Sydney Bar and held various legal roles in both private practice and in-house for global financial institutions.

We are also joined by Pak, Silent Eight's dynamic sales director who's leading the quest for expansion into the SEA market. Beyond his role at Silent Eight, Pak actively contributes to the Singapore FinTech Association as a member of the RegTech subcommittee. Pak is truly passionate about AI and automation, always striving to achieve more with less effort. As you'll hear today, he's brimming with enthusiasm when discussing the future of work, technology, AI, compliance, and the endless possibilities they offer. With his diverse entrepreneurial background in F&B, Mobile Games, Blockchain Education, IoT Vending Machines, and Marketing Agency, Pak brings a fresh perspective and a treasure trove of insights to the table.

LinkedIn Lyndon: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lyndonr/
LinkedIn Pak: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pakteng/

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In this episode Denitsa and Francisco Mainez spoke about AI, technology and the new compliance co-pilot developed by Luncity, Luci. 

Our guest, Francisco, is a Financial Crime and Regulatory Transformation SME at Lucinity, where he is using his experience in Financial Crime and Intelligence to integrate different capabilities into solutions that can improve prevention, detection and investigation of Financial Crimes, as well as ensuring alignment between relevant regulations and the Lucinity product. Francisco is the former Head of Data and Analytics for Wealth and Personal Banking Financial Crime Risk at HSBC. Throughout his career, Francisco has specialised in activities related to data extraction, analysis and Money Laundering, Financial Crime Typologies, Operations, Customer Due Diligence and Tax Evasion, among other areas.  His team was also deeply involved in rolling out initiatives related to Advanced Analytics solutions for Financial Crime.
 
While in HSBC, Francisco worked in other Financial Crime Teams, such as the Financial Intelligence Unit and Global Compliance Reporting. Prior to HSBC, Francisco fulfilled roles in Standard Chartered Bank in London and Singapore after completing several tours of operations in Military Intelligence for NATO and the European Union in different geographical locations. 
 
Francisco holds a MSc in Information and Knowledge Management and a BSc in Politics and International Relations from the University of London-LSE, along with several professional certifications: CAMS, CISI Investment Operations, CFCI (Certified Financial Crimes Investigator) and SAFe (Scalable Agile Framework). In his spare time, Francisco likes to spend time with his family, read history books and ride his motorcycle.

Learn More about Luci: https://lucinity.com/luci
Connect with Francisco on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/francisco-mainez-8b76679/

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Guest on the episode is the brilliant Paul Stratton, known on LinkedIn as the fraud nerd. he creates insightful content, if you are not following him, do so now!. Paul is a former Police Detective with Merseyside Police in the United Kingdom, an area which covers the city of Liverpool. He spent 22 years working in various roles including covert policing and intelligence, counterterrorism and counter-extremism, undercover policing, and criminal investigations into serious and complex crimes such as domestic violence, stalking, violence and abuse against vulnerable people, and sexual offences. 

Paul’s last role in the police was as part of the Economic Crime Team, investigating cases of fraud, money laundering, and broader economic crime on a national and international level. He led and managed investigations into the most harmful, complex, and sensitive crimes, such as high-value theft and fraud by an employee, cyber-crime including illegitimate use of cryptocurrency, abuses of position within law firms and allegations of corruption in local government. Paul now works in Local Government in Liverpool as a Fraud Specialist. He leads at a senior level and is responsible for driving the organisation’s focus on fighting financial crime, specifically internal risks. He is the authority’s subject matter expert on internal fraud and fraud risk assessment and oversees their whistleblowing arrangements and internal investigations. He has recently transformed the organisation’s approach to fighting fraud and corruption with a framework and strategy described by central government as “an example of best practice”. Paul also chairs a regional fraud group and is part of national counter-fraud groups. He has a post-graduate degree in Fraud & Financial Crime and a master’s degree in Intelligence & Security Studies. Also, he works part-time as a counter-fraud coach and trainer for financial crime professionals and apprentice investigators. 

Paul will soon be changing careers and working in the FinCrime training sector full time. He lives with his wife and dog, Dexter, who is his favourite counter-fraud apprentice of all.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pauldstratton/

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Guest on the show today is Marco Beranzoni, the creator of the FinCrime Agent YouTube channel. 

FinCrime Agent shares tutorials, job talks, conference reviews, and interviews related to Financial Crime prevention. If you plan a career in FinCrime, these videos will help you with the first steps. For those who are already in the industry, they can be a great source of knowledge and experience sharing as well. Marco has experience in Financial Crime prevention roles across Banking and FinTech for over 15 years. In this episode, Marco will share with us his experience with creating FinCrime YouTube content, he will share with us what is successful and what are some of the challenges in the space. Additionally, we will talk more about technology trends in the AML and compliance space. 

Link to the YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/FinCrimeAgent

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In this episode guest on the podcast is Ofir Shabtai. He is the CTO and Co-Founder of Shield, a technology software company specializing in employee electronic communication compliance. Shield helps organizations uncover hidden insights such as inside dealing, unlawful behavior, market abuse, and privacy matters. With laser-focused AI models designed to detect financial misconduct, Ofir leverages machine learning and NLP to pinpoint suspicious behavior and eliminate over 95% of the noise legacy tools create. Shield helps banks monitor new channels up to 4x times quicker, saving them from multi-million-dollar fines, while cutting supporting IT infrastructure costs in half.

Ofir has over 15 years of experience building large-scale systems. Prior to Shield, he was Co-Founder and CTO at several start-up companies where he built global engineering teams and was responsible for the strategy and execution of real-time systems and big data. Ofir holds an MBA in Business Management from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a BA in Computer Science from IDC Herzliya.

Link to Shield: https://www.shieldfc.com/

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Michael Rasmussen’s success story starts where most entrepreneurs with a legal background begin: with big ideas to serve clients and an industry passion. He is most passionate about assisting US and UK financial services professionals seeking investment adviser registration or acquisition due diligence services in the US or UK. In 2013, he started his career in the securities industry as a regulator with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). After FINRA, Michael served in Senior SEC/FINRA Consultant positions for several established legal and consulting firms. More recently, he has acted as General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer for several established investment advisers and private fund managers with each institution managing over $1 Billion in assets under management.

In 2020, Michael leveraged his extensive legal and compliance background to found United Atlantic Legal Services, a law firm exclusively dedicated to assisting US & UK financial services professionals seeking investment adviser registration or acquisition due diligence services. As a licensed lawyer in both the US and UK, he is able to uniquely service clients on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

In addition to that, Michael has routinely served investment advisory firms and private fund managers as a Subject Matter Expert and has provided extensive training regarding developing and existing FINRA & SEC matters, including but not limited to Fiduciary Standards, Investment Adviser Registration, Investment Advisor Compliance, and Investment Advisor Legal and Compliance Acquisition Due Diligence. In response to the demand for legal and compliance training, he founded FinProLaw (www.finprolaw.com), a legal and compliance learning platform that provides in-depth coaching services to new and aspiring investment adviser Chief Compliance Officers.

Mr. Rasmussen received his JD from Nova Southeastern University, Shepard Broad College of Law, and his BS in Legal Studies from Nova Southeastern University, Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences. He serves on the Education Committee for the National Society of Compliance Professionals and has passed the FINRA 7, 24, 63, and 65 examinations.

FinProLaw: www.finprolaw.com

United Atlantic Legal Services: www.unitedatlanticls.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrasmussenlaw/

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 In this episode guest on the podcast is Skip Schiphorst - an Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) language course developer and instructor who served 17 years in the Dutch Ministry of Defence. He deployed to several regions, during which his language and cultural skills were used. Skip, who holds a university degree in China Studies has a keen interest in how to incorporate languages within the OSINT spectrum. He works at I-Intelligence and their OSINT language courses include Chinese, Arabic as well as Russian; these courses show researchers that do not speak these languages how to find information online for CDD, AML, KYC and many more research purposes.
Use promo code IINT102023 for 10% off on language courses or any other i-intelligence courses.

Chinese Open Source Intelligence course:
https://i-intelligence.eu/courses/osint-chinese-internet
Arabic Open Source Intelligence course:

https://i-intelligence.eu/courses/osint-searching-the-arabic-web
Russian Open Source Intelligence course:

https://i-intelligence.eu/courses/osint-searching-the-russian-internet-virtual-course

Support Compliance Time: www.podinbox.com/compliancetime

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